Lubricant



ll atenteol July 24, 11923.

insane JAMES A. BURTON, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

LUBRICANT.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that JAMES A. BURTON, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at 421 Park Place, Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of N. Y., has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lubricants, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to lubricents and more particularly to that class of liquid lubricants adapted for use on leaf springs of motor cars, leaf springs of elec trio and steam railroad cars,leafsprings of wagons and the like, or moreybroadly to lubricants for use where the rubbing of metal surfaces together is liable to cause objectionable squeaking. QThe lubricant is also of especialvalue when applied to bolts and nuts which are to be separated, particularly after the same have rusted to some extent. A special object of the invention is to provide a lubricant which will readily penetrate between the leaves of springs and will loosen frozen or rusted connections and avoid ob ect10nable noises due to the rub- *bing of metallic surfaces against each other.

Other and further objects will be obvious from the reading of this specification.

There have been many compositions proposed for application to leaf springs, for preventing the same from emittin objectionable sounds, when the vehicle 1s operated. In many cases it was necessary to separate the leaves of the spring, by means of a sharp tool, such as a chisel or crewdriver and to insert the lubricant, either in a solid or liquid condition between the leaves. This entailed considerable laboriouswork, and is generally not practised extensively. Many of the compositions heretofore'prd posed have given good results fora short period, but did not permanently overcome the difficulty. With the composition of the present case, it has been demonstrated that a single application of the material will overcome the objections referred to, for a considerable period.

In the preferred form of the invention I employ the materials mentioned below, preferable in the proportions stated, but it will be understood that these proportions can be varied more or less, without sacrificing the entire benefits of the composition.

As a base and vehicle, I emplo' three quarts of crude oil, preferably oil 0 a. non

Application filed May 25, 1922. Serial No. 563,684.

asphaltic base, such as paraflin oil. In place of crude oil, high viscosity lubricating oil could also be employed but the same is more expensive. With the amount above stated of the heavy oil, I use 18 ounces of a refined oil of relatively low viscosity, preferably kerosene. It is unadvisable to use gasoline or other highly volatile oils for this purpose, and While kerosene is to some extent volatile, it will remain sufficiently long to accomplish the purpose of completely carrying the lubricant into the very fine interstices or spaces between the leaves of the spring. With the above ingredients, I also employ a mineral lubricant, preferably graphite. This may be employed to the extent of six ounces, and of course should be in a finely divided condition. It may be simply ground to an impalpable powder, or

.defiocculated graphite could be employed.

For most purposes it is not necessary to use the deflocculated material which is many times more expensive than the finely powdered graphite. With the above ingredients I also employ liquids which are somewhat volatile, but which are capable of greatly increasing the penetrating properties of the mixture.

Thus I may use:

7 ounces of commercial ether,

3 drachms of amyl acetate,

3 drachms of ethyl'acetate,

2 drachms of ethylbutyrate,

5 minims of oil of cassia (oil of cinnamon).

These ingredients, in addition to greatly increasing the penetrating properties, and the capillary action of the product also improves its odor to considerable extent, and also imparts a lively appearance and a. bronzy color.

The above proportions mentioned are given by way of illustration, for the manu facture of one gallon of the oil. Obviously the quantities can be increased for commercial manufacture.

The very essential characteristics of the product is its capillary action, which is ver much greater than that of any similar pro uct which I have found on the market. The graphite remains in suspension persistently and does not settle out to any very great extent. Obviously the can or bottle can be shaken up, if it has been allowed to stand for a long period, say. several months, he-

. rusted nuts and bolts and the like.

fore making an application of the'oil. The mixture will penetrate between the leaves of leaf springs, around and to the threads of It will spread over metallic surfaces in all directions, even vertically upwards.

The amyl acetate and ethyl acetate and ethyl butyrate above referred to can be generically described as lower fatty acid esters of the lower alkyl groups. These sub stances are not to be confused however, with fatty esters of high fatty acids, such as trithat frequent'applications' of the material are not necessary.

The aniyl acetate, ethyl acetateand ethyl butyrate are to some extent the equivalents of each other and other similar low fatty acid esters of low alkyl groups also can be substituted, the combination of the three specified substances seems to give rather better results than any of the others.

I claim:

A lubricant for leaf springs and the like comprising: 3 quarts of crude petroleum, 18

ounces of kerosene, 6 ounces of comminuted graphite, 7 ounces of ethyl ether, 3 drachms of amyl acetate, 3 drachms of ethyl acetate, 2 drachms of ethyl butyrate, 5- minims of oil of cassia.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

JAMES, A. BURTON. 

